State Route 372 (SR 372) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the north-central part of the U.S. state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. It begins at an

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with SR 140 in the western part of

Alpharetta, Georgia Alpharetta is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and is a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 US Census, Alpharetta's population was 65,818 The population in 2010 was 57,551. History In the 1830s, the Ch ...

and travels to the north through

Fulton Fulton may refer to: People * Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship * Fulton (surname) Given name * Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer * Fult ...

and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

counties to end at I-575/ SR 5/ SR 515 in the very southern portion of south-central Pickens County.

Route description

SR 372 begins at an

with SR 140, locally known as Arnold Mill Road, in

Crabapple ''Malus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 30–55 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple, crab apples, wild apples, and rainberries. The genus is native plant, native to the temper ...

area of western

Alpharetta Alpharetta is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and is a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 US Census, Alpharetta's population was 65,818 The population in 2010 was 57,551. History In the 1830s, the Ch ...

, a predominately

residential area A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

of north

Fulton County Fulton County is the name of eight counties in the United States of America. Most are named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the first practical steamboat: *Fulton County, Arkansas, named after Governor William Savin Fulton *Fulton County, Georgia *F ...

. After initially heading east, the route turns directly north, changes names from Crabapple Road to Birmingham Highway (named after the small community the route travels through on its way north out of Alpharetta), and heads into the western portions of

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

. SR 372 then angles slightly northeast, and briefly changes names to Birmingham Road as it crosses into

Cherokee County Cherokee County is the name of eight counties in the United States: * Cherokee County, Alabama * Cherokee County, Georgia * Cherokee County, Iowa * Cherokee County, Kansas * Cherokee County, North Carolina * Cherokee County, Oklahoma * Cherokee Co ...

, before making a sharp turn to the north and traveling through the

unincorporated communities An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

of Free Home and Lathemtown, now locally known as Ball Ground Road. After crossing SR 20 in Free Home and SR 369 about thereafter, the route turns to the northwest and continues into Ball Ground. In Ball Ground, SR 372 intersects SR 5 Business, which terminates at this intersection, and travels north in the direction of

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. Just south of Nelson, the route turns to the northwest once more and feeds into I-575/ SR 5/ SR 515, its northern terminus, just after crossing into Pickens County, where SR 5/SR 515 curve to the northwest just west of downtown Nelson, and just after the end of the freeway.

Traffic

The

Georgia Department of Transportation The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is the organization in charge of developing and maintaining all state and federal roadways in the U.S. state of Georgia. In addition to highways, the department also has a limited role in developin ...

average annual daily traffic Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a y ...

(AADT) numbers for the year 2011 show some variety in the average daily traffic load numbers as the route travels north. The traffic load averages start at their high point on the route, with an average of 16,530 vehicles using the short stretch between SR 140 and the start of the Birmingham Highway portion. Those numbers then steadily decrease as SR 372 heads north, going from 9,390 initially down to just over 3,000 as Cherokee County approaches. The average load stays between 3,000 and 3,500 south of SR 20, climbs to 5,500 north of SR 20, and goes up once more to around 6,200 north of SR 369. The area south of, and into, Ball Ground sees an average vehicle load of between 7,000 and 7,500, cresting once more at 8,680 heading north out of downtown towards I-575/SR 5/SR 515. However, the short stretch that feeds directly into the aforementioned state route only carries 3,900 vehicles per day, illustrating that the feeder route into SR 5 south of Ball Ground sees heavier traffic than this northern spur.

History

The first indications of a roadway following today's routing of SR 372 makes its appearance on Georgia state road maps in 1953, when the portion of the route in Fulton County appears on state maps as a county route, and which connected in the community of Birmingham with today's New Bullpen Road and then Union Hill Road to meet SR 20 east of Canton. By 1966, the Fulton County portion was unchanged, but the portion of today's route from Free Home to Ball Ground and SR 5 had been added as a connecting county route. It was 1969 before the entirety of the route had been mapped as connecting routes on Georgia state highway maps; however, no state route designation was extant at the time. Another three years later, the routing as it travels today, through Ball Ground to what is signed as SR 5 Business, was designated as SR 372; the northernmost portion of the route, connecting to what is I-575/SR 5/SR 515 today (which bypasses Ball Ground to its west), was still signed as SR 5 at the time. It was early 1987 before this final stretch of SR 372 was added to its designation and removed from a designation of SR 5 Alternate.

Major intersections

References

External links